


is it about love?

by WinchesterBurger



Series: i'm unstable 'cause of you [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Awkward RK900, Blushing, Caring, Crying, Cute, Falling In Love, Feelings, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, No Smut, Temporary Character Death, Wounds, hankcon's in the background, no beta we die like men, nothing graphic tho, this one has much more connor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 08:21:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15481596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterBurger/pseuds/WinchesterBurger
Summary: “Stop staring at me like that,” Gavin said with a laugh, reaching for his phone and sitting on the other side of his bed. Their bed. Nines tilted his head to the side shyly and said nothing, but the electronic device landed on the night closet. The android came closer to his partner, sliding on the soft bedding until his lips reached Reed’s bare shoulder blade.“You’re beautiful.”





	is it about love?

**Author's Note:**

> Like I promised, there's another part! Though it's not what you wanted, probably, so I'm thinking about adding a few bonus parts here and there to the story. I wanted to expand the plot line, because there are so many ideas about these two in my head that I still want to write down. I mostly focused on The Feelings, so I hope it's not boring or rushed, or anything. 
> 
> No need to read "red signs" before this, but I highly recommend you to if you want to fully understand the plot line.
> 
> Feel free to point out all mistakes you see!

Nines saw his predecessor cry only once, a long time before he’d deviated himself.

Connor and Hank were sent to investigate a crime scene – another homicide involving two humans and an android – leaving RK900 and his partner alone at the station. It was one of the days when everyone took a day off due to the sunny weather, planning to spend it with their families, and as always, the two duos stayed as the only ones. Fowler remained in his closed office, so Nines and Gavin seemed to have the entire bullpen for themselves. It was barely three weeks since RK900 model left CyberLife, and his relationship with detective Reed was improving slowly – very, _very_ slowly. It was the main reason of the silence that laid between them; the other was Gavin’s state of health. That morning, the man arrived grumpier than ever, with reddened nose and hoarse voice, and a huge headache. A quick scan told the android that his partner caught a cold and it was intact by medicines. Clearly, his human didn’t care much about his health.

RK900 prepared him a hot tea and made him swallow a bitter medicament – Gavin did as told, although not without complaints. A next superficial analysis showed that Reed’s body started to actively fight against the cold. His mission was accomplished.

 

**_S o f t w a r e   I n s t a b i l i t y_ **

****

Their comfortable silence was cut off by Connor. RK800 model broke into the station in a rush – he was alone, Lieutenant nowhere to be seen – and though he tried to appear calm, his face and movement betrayed him. The android was shaking and looking around nervously, almost frantically, lips in thin line, hair messy and his brown eyes… glassy. Wet. Full of tears that streaked down his freckled cheeks.

He was crying.

“Are you alright, Connor?” RK900 asked, raising from his seat slowly. He scanned his predecessor, but the results were mostly good.

_Stress level: 89%_

“What happened, tin can?”

Even Gavin seemed to wear a face of concern. Interesting. The detective straightened his back and threw a glance at the older android. Connor looked at them, suddenly halting in the middle of the room.

“It’s Hank. He was stabbed.”

_Stress level: 93%_

Gavin stood up immediately, like thunderstruck. “I’m going to tell Fowler. Nines,” with that, he glanced at his partner, tilting his head at Connor, “take care of him. Calm him down or something, you robots have things in common. Use them.”

And he was gone, already in the middle of his way to Captain’s office. Nines’ gaze lingered on him for a while, checking his vitals carefully, before his attention was brought back to the smaller android. Connor had sat at the nearest desk – it appeared to be Anderson’s, of course – and started to wipe the tears off, however it didn’t do much; the fresh ones kept spilling out of his puppy eyes. It was a reminder for RK900, that his predecessor was a deviant for a longer period of time than he’s even been active.

He didn’t know what to do – he’s never been in contact with a crying person, and Connor looked like he needed comfort. It was… difficult to find a fitting reaction.

It took eleven seconds RK900 to put his hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Lieutenant will be fine. He’s a strong man.”

“Yeah, I… I know,” the older android replied, looking away. His gaze stopped at the glass office where Captain Fowler and Reed were having a heated conversation. Nines glanced there, too, to see his partner throwing his hands in the air, wincing, shouting and pointing at them through the wall.

“Then why are you worried about him? He’s in good hands.”

Connor was quiet for a prolonging moment. RK900 came back to staring at him and did a quick scan.

_Stress level: 85%_

“He’s… my friend. It’s a common thing, among humans, to worry about your friends.”

This made Nines think. He wouldn’t call detective Reed his friend; at least not yet. Their relationship was getting better, yes, but they were far behind Connor and Lieutenant Anderson, and the ease with which they communicated with each other.

“How do you feel about Lieutenant?” Nines chose to distract his predecessor by asking him questions and judging by his stress level – _82%_ blinked in the corner of RK900’s vision – it was a workable solution.

“I care about him,” the older android said, glassy eyes focused on his fingers. “And I would do anything for him. There’s a word that humans call this feeling, and I think it fits.”

“What is it?”

Connor looked up. “Love. I think I can call it love.”

_Stress level: 71%_

Nines wanted to search for the answers to the questions that all of a sudden appeared in his code, he was _curious_ what love was, but the bang of the closed door snapped the androids’ attention to the approaching detective. Reed’s cheeks were painted angry red, his face decorated with a troubled frown.

“That fucker wanted a report from you, but I stopped him,” apparently, his words were directed at Connor, yet his eyes followed Nines movement as the android took his hand from RK800’s shoulder. “Told him you’re not feeling good right now.”

“Thank you,” Connor brushed the back of his hand over his face to dry it a bit.

“Not a big deal, plastic.”

Nines’ eyes felt glued to the man as he sat back down and reached for his cup, and to his beautiful grey eyes. A soft smile found its way to the android’s lips.

 

 ** _S o f t w a r e   I n s t a b i l i t y   S o f t w a r e   I n s t a b_** _i l i t y   S o_ f t w a r-

 

One day the definition of love appeared before his vision almost without his consent. He probably searched it subconsciously during the analysis he provided on the files that he and Gavin got. Reed was back to work for a week now, his wound was healing quickly and didn’t hurt as much as it used to, and their developing relationship seemed to comfort him more than any medicine he was made to take. Nines was nearly used to catching the little smiles his partner was shooting him from time to time.

  1. **a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person**
  2. **a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection**
  3. **sexual passion or desire**



RK900 felt a blue blush creeping over his cheeks at the last part. They didn’t get far past kissing yet due to Gavin’s injury, but the man’s hands had already wandered below Nines’ waist many times, and the android didn’t feel like stopping them. Gavin’s fingers felt good on his exposed skin, deactivated to show the man his trust, leaving hot trails wherever they landed. _System overheating_ warnings often cluttered his view at those occasions, but he clumsily dragged them off his vision, too busy keeping Reed’s lips occupied with his own.

“Didn’t know androids could blush.”

Nines looked up from a photography of a murdered woman he had been holding to meet Gavin’s amused eyes. Recently, the detective seemed happier than ever – the usual frown was mostly gone from his handsome features, his brows straightened, nose not scrunched anymore. He smiled a lot more, too. Nines liked the thought that he was responsible for it.

“It’s a- It’s a simulation of human blush,” he cleared his throat awkwardly, though there was no need to. He tried to prevent blue from farther spreading all over his cheeks and nose, but he found himself unable to. It seemed like the blush was living its own life. Gavin sent him a smile which could be read as almost sheepish.

“It looks good on you, you know.”

Nines’ LED flashed furious yellow – he caught a glimpse of it in a glassy wall – and the android’s gaze fell down, back to the photo. “Thank you.”

The compliments still felt peculiar as well. There was something in them, something intimate, that always made Nines even more, almost impossibly, flustered. But if Gavin liked it, he didn’t see a reason to try and stop it.

 

**_^_ **

 

The first time Nines said it, he was once again overwhelmed by fear.

He was going to shut down. He felt it, felt life leaving his limbs and flickering lines of code that frantically tried to start working properly again, but couldn’t. He felt the gashing hole where his Thirium pump should be; it laid hundreds of feet away instead, torn from his body and threw with force. His vision was blurred at the edges and filled with fuzzy stripes all over the front, the image of his human partner glimmering. Not complete.

“You’re going to be fine, Nines, you’ll be fine, you hear me?”

The android felt strong hands, trembling hands, around his head, lifting it up and putting on Gavin’s lap gently. One of them came to stroke his hair.

_00:00:31_

“Gavin.”

He didn’t want to die.

“Yes?”

They were meant to have so much time yet, so many days to spend together. He was going to learn all emotions.

He wanted to know how is it to _feel_ them.

“I want you… to listen.” His voice came out weak and broken, but the look on Gavin’s face was far more than broken.

“I want… I need you to know…”

_00:00:14_

“I can’t fucking lose you now…” the man whispered, and his tone betrayed him. He was crying. It broke Nines’ heart.

_00:00:04_

“I love you.”

“Nines-“

He was abruptly wrapped by darkness and silence, and sudden calmness. Everything went quiet.

The touch of his partner’s hands disappeared.

 

**_^_ **

 

He decided that hearing it felt so, so much better.

It was, in actuality, the first thing Nines heard when the words _Reactivation completed_ showed up in his view. His sensors flashed before they started working again, his LED turned yellow, and then blue, and it all felt _wonderful_.

He was _alive_.

“I love you, you stupid fucking plastic prick.”

A hand clenched on his shirt yanked him forward and before he had a chance to open his eyes, his lips were crashed by the familiar ones. Gavin’s.

“I thought I fucking lost you for good,” the detective pulled back and his glassy eyes pierced through RK900’s. “You’re a piece of shit.” Another kiss, this time longer and wetter, and full of longing. His tears mixed with Gavin’s on their cheeks, but it was the last thing they cared about.

When Reed pulled back once more time, he was smiling as brightly as the sun. “Don’t do that again. Don’t you ever leave me. Promise me.”

“I promise,” Nines said and sat up on the metal table, wrapped his arms around Gavin’s waist and pulled him closer, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

 

**_^_ **

 

A cloud of hot steam poured into the room as Gavin left the bathroom with only a towel around his hips two days later, hair damp. RK900 looked up from an electronic newspaper he’d been holding for over ten minutes and threw a glance at his partner – at the messy strands falling onto his forehead, at his reddened from hot water cheeks, his pink lips and still wet chest, a fresh scar of the size of coin on his side. His gaze stopped on the dangerously low brink of the towel. Gavin noticed.

“Stop staring at me like that,” he said with a laugh, reaching for his phone and sitting on the other side of his bed. _Their_ bed. Nines tilted his head to the side shyly and said nothing, but the electronic device landed on the night closet. The android came closer to his partner, sliding on the soft bedding until his lips reached Reed’s bare shoulder blade.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered into the skin, and Gavin shuddered, the phone suddenly forgotten as the man looked over his shoulder at RK900.

“I’m not a girl. I don’t need pretty words.” His voice trembled a bit, a sigh escaped his throat when Nines sucked gently at his shoulder blade. The android closed his eyes and took an unnecessary breath just to smell his human. Gavin’s scent included a mint shampoo of a certain brand and a maracuja shower gel, and something that only Gavin smelled of.

“I know,” he replied quietly. “I’m just speaking my mind.”

His tongue slid across Reed’s spine to his neck and remained there as he sucked a dark red mark on the side of it. He earned a shy moan, and locked his hands on Gavin’s hips, turning him around and pushing him to the mattress. His partner wrapped his left hand around Nines’ neck, the other making its way to the android’s hair and tugging at it gently. Nines pressed his mouth against Gavin’s right collarbone.

“You’re _beautiful_ ,” he repeated, moving to the man’s right shoulder, “ _handsome_ ,” there came the breastbone, “ _gorgeous_ ,” the left nipple, his teeth and Gavin’s very low moan, “ _attractive_ ,” Nines let his tongue slide down to Gavin’s navel slowly. “ _Mine_.” He felt the man’s excitement pressing against his own chest, but ignored it purposely, his fingers grazing over every scar they encountered on Gavin’s stomach, every trace of violence that was done to him, and pain that he experienced. Soon they reached the smallest and newest one – his heart dropped, and the android leaned in to cover it with the softest kiss he was capable of. When he pulled back, his gaze was met with grey eyes.

No words were needed as Gavin brushed Nines’ cheek with his hand, wiping away the little salty droplets that adorned his skin.

 

**_^_ **

****

“Gavin?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do humans get married?”

Gavin turned around to face him in the darkness of his bedroom. _Their_ bedroom. He also winced, displeased by the fact that Nines tore him away from his half-sleep, but RK900 knew that his _partner_ wasn’t mad at him.

“Do androids have so many questions at night? Or is it just you, huh?” Gavin yawned, moving his hand to place it over RK900’s bare pale chest, just where the android’s pump, his _heart_ sat underneath his artificial skin. The android would never admit it, but his human looked adorable like that. All sleepy and messy, and beautifully tousled.

“I heard two women in the park talking about marriage today. I was wondering…”

“They get married because they love each other,” Gavin looked him in the eyes. “They want to be together. It’s like a promise that obliges to death, or at least that’s the main concept. You know, “until death do us part” and that kind of shit. The whole vow and a wedding can actually be fun sometimes though.”

Nines proceeded his words cautiously, absentmindedly stroking the man’s forearm with his fingers.

“Will you marry me?”

“ _What_?”

“Will you marry me?” The android repeated and got drunk of the amount of surprise and love that Gavin’s eyes held. “Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

“You’re cheesy as all hell, Nines.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Gavin’s lips, as always, found their way to Nines’, and it felt lovely.

They both could definitely get used to that.

**Author's Note:**

> me, writing part one: *after five cups of coffee, sitting on my bed at 3 am relaxed* cool  
> me, writing this part: *after three cups of coffee, two cups of tea and four beers, crying in the pillow with earphones on* how does the keyboard work
> 
> I'd be very happy to see you on my tumblr: [@someonefromthere](https://someonefromthere.tumblr.com/)


End file.
